


A Touch-Starved Life Has Some Disadvantages

by JackHawksmoor



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:22:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28552305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackHawksmoor/pseuds/JackHawksmoor
Summary: Grogu dreams of the Mandalorian's death, and Luke stages a rescue.
Relationships: Din Djarin/Luke Skywalker
Comments: 109
Kudos: 660





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was intended as a crack story, and accidentally became a real one. Third person omniscient, because it's fun.

By the Mandalorian’s count, there were 20 people currently trying to kill him. In actuality, he was off by two, but given the stress of the situation it was hardly surprising he was having difficulties concentrating.

It was by no means the worst odds he had faced. However, any time he had faced worse odds, he’d had someone to help him. He had decent cover and his beskar was handling any shots that got through, but given that he had no exit strategy, Din Djarin wasn’t feeling optimistic about his situation.

He thought he was alone. He was mistaken.

Din didn’t see the last Jedi currently occupying the galaxy enter the hangar, swinging a lightsaber like he was looking forward to a workout. He definitely didn’t see the looks of shock on his enemies’ faces. Neither did Luke, as a matter of fact; Most of them were wearing helmets.

However, several of them had been around long enough to know what a bad situation looked like and took off as soon as they saw what was headed toward them. 

The Mandalorian noticed immediately that the blaster fire aimed his way cut out. He also noticed one of his assailants run past him toward the door, leaving his back open, as if the new threat in the room made the prospect of being shot by Din the preferable alternative. 

Din took a risk and popped his head up. What he saw was beyond a surprise; It was so unlikely it didn’t seem real.

 _The Jedi._ The Jedi’s green lightsaber was flashing, cutting people down effortlessly, almost like he was dancing with them. Din remembered the Jedi had come to rescue Grogu just when things had been at their most desperate; Watching him absolutely destroy the people who’s been trying to kill him made Din wonder if that was just what he did.

 _Was that what a Jedi was,_ the Mandalorian wondered. _Riding in to help when they're least expected?_ Tano had been doing something similar, he recalled.

He was not aware that technically, Ahsoka Tano wasn't a Jedi anymore. She was certainly a sorcerer, though, so the semantics wouldn't have mattered much to him.

There was a startling look of peace on Luke’s face as he fought. Din thought it was striking.

The Mandalorian picked off a few people with his blaster, wondering if one day Grogu would learn how to fight like that. He couldn’t picture it. 

Shortly on the heels of that thought came a bolt of panic. The possibility that the Jedi had brought Grogu into a fight was only slightly worse, in his mind, than the possibility the Jedi had just left him somewhere. 

Din shot to his feet. Fortunately for both of them, Luke Skywalker had just killed the last of the bounty hunters, because Din’s concern for his own safety had just gone out the window.

“Where’s the kid?” He demanded. He looked around the hangar bay as if Grogu might be hiding behind one of the cargo containers. It was, given his history with the child, a reasonable thought to have.

“He’s safe,” Luke said, putting up his lightsaber.

Din Djarin took several large steps toward Luke in a moderately aggressive way that was a poor cover for parental fear. “Where?” he demanded. “I gave him to you to keep him safe.”

Luke smiled, as mild as a spring day. “And now we’re keeping you safe.” 

The conversation was not going the way Din had planned. His whole day was not going the way he had planned. 

“What?”

“He’s onboard the Falcon, we have to-”

There was the crackling sound of a comm unit, and then a voice cut in.

“Luke, we have to pick you up now if you plan on getting out of here without being noticed by the locals.” Han Solo sounded stressed, because he was. He had been having a relaxing evening, and then Luke had run up insisting that they needed to leave immediately because the Force was telling him something.

The Force told Luke a lot of things that ended up being true; This made Han uneasy. He wasn’t by nature superstitious and it had come as somewhat of a blow to find out that if anything, the old superstitions weren't nearly extreme enough. At this point, even if it hadn’t been Luke, if someone had come up to him and said the Force had a message for him Han would have just braced himself and asked what the Force needed him to do today.

“That’s fine, I’ve got him,” Luke said smoothly.

“What’s going on?” Din Djarin had had a rough day, and was running low on patience.

Luke was a Jedi, so he could tell. He decided to get right to the point. “Grogu had a dream about you. He saw you trapped.” Luke’s face was dark.

Those words would have made Han Solo’s heart sink. The Mandalorian, however, thought the answer was nonsensical. He didn’t have the context to be frightened; Most people didn’t. He had a keen eye, however, and from the grave look on Luke's face, he assumed it meant something bad. 

He was completely correct. Luke had broken out in a cold sweat when he'd realized what Grogu had seen. Blood and despair and a terrible, awful loneliness. The Mandalorian died far from anyone who cared about him, and had felt the bitter sting of being utterly alone in his last moments. 

Grogu had been frantic.

“A dream.” Din’s voice was doubtful.

They were both distracted by the approach of a ship. To Din Djarin’s eye it looked like the kind of junker that had a lot of secret cargo holds and an expensive hyperdrive.

 _Smuggler_ , the Mandalorian thought.

“We came all the way from Kashyyyk,” Luke began. 

The Mandalorian snapped his head toward Luke in incredulity. They were a very long way from Kashyyyk. For anyone to come that far it would have to be important.

“Sometimes, when you’re strong in the Force, a dream is more than a dream,” Luke added. He nodded at the far door; The door, Din realized, Luke must have entered through.

“There were another dozen on their way, including a couple of droids.”

_You wouldn’t have made it._

The words hung unsaid between them.

The Mandalorian was starting to get uneasy. He was recalling that he hadn’t told anyone where he was going, and he didn’t have a ship to track anymore. He was thinking that unless Luke had a puck on him, Luke shouldn't even be there. Din had an urge to ask how they’d found him, but had a suspicion ‘it came to Grogu in a dream’ was about all he would get. He was more-or-less right.

The heavy silence was breached in an alarming fashion. As the _Falcon_ came in to land, there was an explosive shuddering sound and the ship rose sharply in the air for a moment. 

Din Djarin had just enough time to revise his opinion of the smuggler’s ship down several notches before the pilot overcompensated and the ship dropped to the deck, bouncing off a shuttle and coming to a halt near the wall.

There was not half a second to think. One moment Din was looking at the ship, and the next moment a loose shuttle was almost on top of him, careening wildly across the hangar.

Luke, not wanting to leave the galaxy completely Jedi-less, caught the shuttle that was skidding directly towards his face and diverted it into the wall. Fourteen seconds later, his Mandalorian companion, who had also nearly gotten a face full of shuttle, had several very inconvenient thoughts.

It took fourteen seconds because until then they were both occupied by the sort of breathless relief that came from narrowly avoiding death. Luke Skywalker and Din Djarin knelt where they had fallen in that brief instinctive scramble backwards, and stared at the half of the shuttle protruding from the wall. It had missed them by perhaps 20 centimeters. They looked back at each other incredulously.

A common reaction for most sentient beings who had just nearly died together was to share a certain brief moment of near-telepathy afterward, whether they were a member of an admittedly strange group of sorcerers or not. 

_I can't believe that just happened_ , the two men thought at nearly the exact same instant. It was the sort of silent, charged moment that often made strangers into friends without a single word exchanged.

Luke Skywalker let out a breath of mild hysteria. It was not exactly a laugh, but it was fairly close.

Din Djarin saw the amusement on Luke's face, put the sight together with his recent memory of Luke throwing a shuttle across the deck with his mind, and thought several things all at once. It was a jumbled awkward mess that, on the whole, could be said to mean ' _wow, he’s attractive_ '.

It was not, by any stretch of the imagination, the first time he'd had that thought. It was the first time he'd had that thought in front of the Jedi in question.

Luke's head snapped up, his eyebrows going up high. 

Luke didn't make a big deal out of his ability to sense what was going on in people's heads. Unlike nearly every Jedi in history who'd had a knack for it, Luke regarded the skill as an occasionally useful but pretty unremarkable quirk of using the Force. He wasn't aware he was rather weird for a Jedi. He also wasn't aware his casual attitude might cause someone to briefly forget he had the ability to feel things that were going on in other people's hearts and minds.

Din saw the surprise on Luke's face, and remembered.

 _Oh, no,_ he thought in the sort of distress anyone who had ever experienced a crush would understand.

Luke Skywalker had experienced a crush before. The fact that the crush had been toward someone who turned out to be his sister was something he tried very hard not to think about. However, Luke hadn't ever experienced anyone having a crush on _him_ before. It was a pleasant surprise.

Before Luke could do anything about the situation, a rather terrified Han Solo made it down the ramp of the _Falcon_ and started yelling, his voice accompanied by the sounds of an equally-distressed sounding Wookie. The Wookie in question was exceedingly pissed at Solo, given that Han was the reason for the frankly terrible landing that had knocked the shuttle across the deck.

"Han," Luke called, pushing himself to his feet.

"Kid!" Han Solo, who had just had several heart attacks over the thought of a universe minus Luke Skywalker, went tearing across the hangar.

Han had known Luke before he became the last Jedi currently occupying the galaxy, so despite everything he'd seen Luke do, he couldn't shake the idea that Luke was just a blond kid from Tatooine who needed looking after.

He was mostly correct.

Han therefore spent the time he wasn't apologising patting Luke all over in a slightly paternal way, as if he was looking for pieces missing. At a certain point Chewbacca shoved him aside to give Luke a one-armed hug. Han responded by trying to look like he wasn't shaken at all and that anyone who thought otherwise was hallucinating.

Din Djarin was not fussed over and did not get a hug, and so was much less impressed by Han's apology. However, the sight of the small green child Chewbacca was holding quickly distracted him.

He rushed forward, scooping the child out of the unresisting Wookie's arms. Unconsciously Din mimicked Han, patting the child anxiously, checking for missing parts. Grogu had been on the Falcon and in no danger of being flattened, but the Mandalorian's nerves weren't satisfied with logic. He was used to Grogu being close; For a long time any danger to Din had been a danger shared, and so out of both instinct and habit, he felt the need to check if his little foundling was all right.

His feelings of protectiveness and love were like a shout into the Force. There was a heartfelt sincerity to him Luke found sweet, and Grogu found comforting. Grogu met Luke's eyes, and they shared a wordless moment of fondness for him.

"Come on," Luke said to the room at large, smothering a smile. "Let's get out of here."

"Right!" Han Solo started to lead them back to his ship. He was thoughtlessly confident about it, looking as though he expected to be in charge. He was a pilot and the Falcon was his ship; He always felt in charge of her, and to some extent the people onboard her.

Din Djarin was the observant sort. He'd grown up with people who had to gather quite a lot of information about each other from body language alone. He saw Han start walking and stopped in his tracks.

"We're not going anywhere if he's piloting," Din nodded his head toward Han. His voice was flat. He'd stated a fact.

Interestingly, when saying 'we' he'd meant himself, Grogu, and Luke. He'd even put out his free hand as if to block Luke from moving. It was done without any thought or reflection; He would have been surprised if someone pointed it out to him.

Chewbacca didn’t need for it to be pointed out. He had something important in common with the Mandalorian. He'd also been raised in a culture that placed a lot of emphasis on the ties between found family. Because of that, Chewie noticed immediately the Mandalorian had knotted strings between himself, his pup, and their Luke. He'd built a little honor family, and had gone fierce over them.

Chewie tilted his head.

"And why not?" Han was vaguely outraged; Current circumstances notwithstanding, he thought of himself as one of the best pilots alive. 

If "in the top 49%" could be considered one of the best pilots alive, Han Solo was correct. The actual best pilot alive was a 15-year old Trandoshan pirate operating on the edge of the Unknown Regions.

"Because you're the idiot who just crashed and almost killed us," Din said, with some heat. He was even-tempered by nature, but his foundling was in his arms and it was never wise to risk a foundling's safety in front of a Mandalorian.

Han put his hands on his hips. "Idiot?" he repeated incredulously. He looked wounded, because he was.

"He's not wrong," Chewbacca commented in a somewhat snide series of 'whuffs'.

Chewie was in a somewhat novel situation for a Wookie; Despite the fact that he wasn't speaking Basic, all three adults in the room understood him perfectly. Grogu had a solid guess, but then he pretty much only had a good guess what everyone was talking about no matter what language they were speaking.

Luke covered his mouth.

"Ha-ha," Han said sarcastically.

"It's fine, I'll drive," Chewbacca said firmly, looking at the Mandalorian.

Han sputtered. Chewie had known Han Solo a long time, and could tell Han was about to make things worse between the Mandalorian's honor family and his. Which, given the fact that they both shared Luke, was stupid. 

Chewbacca snarled rather definitively.

It was not exactly a word, more like a challenge. ' _Want to fight about it? Let's fight_ ,' in Wookie. 

Han immediately put up his hands in surrender. "All right, pal, if it means that much to you."

Din Djarin relaxed, dropping his hand to allow Luke to proceed. Luke was rather touched by the sentiment, as unneeded as it was. He felt vaguely adopted. At the time, he supposed it was some sort of Mandalorian custom. Grogu was obviously Din's child, so Luke wondered if perhaps there was some kind of rule involving Luke being Grogu's current guardian.

He was mistaken. Luke didn't know any other Mandalorians, and so he assumed Din Djarin was more-or-less what all Mandalorians were like. To a certain extent he was right; Mandalorians, like Wookies, were a found-family sort of people. However, he wasn't aware Din was something of an extremist in that area; He bonded to people quickly and thoroughly, and had a talent for getting people to reciprocate.

When Luke had shown up, Din had been fighting for his life. It was the second time he'd come to help Din in a desperate situation, and that had not gone unnoticed.

Din couldn't quite wrap his head around the idea that someone would rush across the galaxy because a small child had a nightmare, but given the situation Luke had interrupted, he was appreciative. He would have been surprised to know most Jedi before Luke would have completely agreed that coming after him was incomprehensibly impulsive.

Luke had grabbed Han and Chewie and roared out into space in under 10 minutes. Luke, due to personal experience, was aware most Jedi would disapprove of him riding to the rescue of someone who might not need it, out of pure sentiment. He didn't care. Grogu was upset, and it wasn't like Luke could throw stones.

Din might not have understood the significance of a Jedi actually acting on a dream, but the fact that Luke had staged a rescue was clear to him. They'd fought together. He was Grogu's protector now. Grogu _liked_ him. Even if Din hadn't been thinking how damned attractive Luke was, those facts were more than enough for Din to consider Luke a friend worth protecting.

Neither of them realized it, but they both shared an important and undervalued talent that even Darth Vader hadn't been completely immune to; They were extremely easy to care about. 

As they walked, Grogu reached a hand out toward Luke with a cheerful little sound. Without hesitation Luke reached out and took it, running his thumb briefly over his tiny hand before withdrawing again. It was a brief, casual gesture of affection that pleased the Mandalorian a great deal to see.

Once they were onboard, Luke left Din in the rear of the ship and joined Chewie and Han in the cockpit. 

Din appreciated that Luke had given him a chance to have some time alone with Grogu. Luke actually hadn't thought of it that way, and was only concerned about smoothing things over with Han; He was about to make a big ask of his friend. However, Luke got some goodwill out of the mistake from the Mandalorian, which would come in handy later.

"That guy is a piece of work," Han said as soon as they were alone, sounding incredulous.

"Hmm," Luke said hesitantly. "About that..."

Han didn't take the fact that Luke was about to lock him out of part of own ship well at all. He didn't much like Chewie's sudden strange support of the Mandalorian, either. The two of them had him outnumbered. 

Worse, after a moment or two of arguing Luke started giving him a sad, disappointed look. It had the effect of not only making him feel like a jerk, but also got Chewie's dander up.

Luke was unaware of the power of his ‘you can do better than this’ expression. If he had been aware, he would have been a lot less nervous meeting the emperor on the Death Star.

"See what you've done?" Chewie grumbled. "You've upset the little one." 

'Little one' wasn't an exact translation. The word he used, and the way he used it, was a bit closer to "you upset the poor little runt of the litter who should be getting a bigger share of the food, you heartless asshole". It was a definite dig; Another Wookie would have been embarrassed.

Luke gave Chewie a dry look. At one point, on Hoth, Chewie had asked him innocently how long it would be until he was finished growing to his adult height. Han had laughed for a week.

"Fine," Han said, exasperated. He wasn't a Wookie, but he'd gotten the gist of things. "Fine, lock me out of the whole ship if you want. I'll ride on the roof, maybe that'll make the Mando more comfortable."

Luke smiled at him with a hint of mischief. "I'll talk to him and let you know."

Luke left the cockpit, with Han grumbling at his back.

Din Djarin was in the middle of a quiet, one-sided conversation with his foundling when Luke returned. Grogu had been patting at Din's helmet, trying to convey the fact that he wanted Din to take it off. Din was trying to distract him.

Luke was a bit timid about entering. He hadn't been entirely sure if, when he walked in, the Mandalorian would be wearing his helmet or not.

He had some idea from Grogu that either the Mandalorian's helmet wasn't supposed to come off, or that removing the helmet wasn't something he liked to do. Grogu wasn't clear on anything but the fact that he'd never seen Din Djarin's face until right before he'd left with Luke. Luke had seen their reaction to each other when Din had removed the helmet, and figured he was safe making a few assumptions.

"I went ahead and locked off this section," Luke said carefully. "If you wanted to show him your face, no one can get in."

Din was caught off guard, for more than one reason. Luke was unintentionally exhibiting startlingly good manners for someone who didn't know anything about Mandalorians.

"It just seemed like taking it off is...significant," Luke added.

Din's first, instinctive reaction came out of his mouth without really going through his brain first. "It is." Then his brain caught up, bringing with it a churning mass of emotion. "Or, it was." The bite of disgust and humiliation as he'd let his face be scanned into the Imperial system was suddenly fresh and raw in his mind. The bleeding of his soul that came with the fundamental compromise he'd made for love welled up bright and red. 

Meeting Mandalorians who didn't follow The Way had shaken him. The idea that he could still be a Mandalorian after showing his face had shaken him far more seriously. 

Luke sensed his sudden turmoil, and straightened, concerned. "I can go hide in Han's room for a while if you need me to." 

Luke had already seen his face, the Mandalorian recalled, and it occurred to him Luke was being kind. Din looked down at Grogu, who was still trying to get to his helmet. Grogu wasn't being too crabby about it, but he hadn't slept in a while and was nearing the end of his patience. Din caught on to his mood without needing the Force; He had the power of parenthood on his side.

"That's very kind...but no," Din said. "No, he's tired. If your friend has a bed in there-"

"Sure," Luke said, nodding at the hallway to the left. "Just down there, second door on the right."

Luke watched Din go, and then shut his eyes, stretching out into the Force a little. He could feel the love the Mandalorian carried in his heart for his child shining like a small star; Luke could have followed Din's progress through the ship even if he'd gone blind.

Luke was an unusual Jedi for many reasons. One of those reasons was his feelings about the importance of family in general, and fathers in particular. He spent the next fifteen minutes wrestling with himself over them.

He had been presented with a problem he didn't much like. Despite his opinions on family, he had a definite Feeling it would be a very bad idea to take Din Djarin back to the Alliance with them. Something awful would happen, though Luke couldn't pin down what it would be.

Luke was actually being optimistic. In fact, several awful things would happen, that would cascade into rather a lot of terrifyingly horrific things, and build on and on until it eventually resulted in the destruction of the New Republic and a re-emergence of the Sith.

However, Luke didn't know that, and therefore spent his time tapping his finger on the table while poking in frustration at the vagueness of the warning from the Force. 

The Force didn't care about his frustration at all. If it had possessed a consciousness to question, the Force would have replied that it was as clear as it cared to be and to kindly piss off.

While Luke fretted, Din Djarin was sitting contentedly with Grogu, trying to coax him to accept the idea that it was time for him to sleep. He'd removed his helmet. The decision had felt significant; It wasn't a one-time gesture brought on by the fear he would never see Grogu again. He'd chosen to place his foundling into an utterly new category of sentient beings called 'Those who are allowed to see my face'. 

On a purely emotional level, it had been a good thing to do. It improved his mental health dramatically and immediately, though he didn't notice it yet. 

On a strategic level, however, it had been a mistake, as Grogu found the opportunity to see his face an exciting novelty that was a lot more important and interesting than sleep. It took Din a full half hour to settle him down enough that he felt safe Grogu would stay asleep if he left.

On his way out, he hesitated at the door. He looked down at the helmet in his hands, his heart rising in his throat.

He was about to have an important conversation with himself. It wasn't only important to him; It would have a significant effect on the galaxy at large. At the moment, however, it felt intensely personal and rather small in the grand scheme of things.

Maybe, Din Djarin thought, he could be someone who took his helmet off for a few people he trusted. Maybe he could do that and still be all right. Maybe, given that the helmet had already come off more than once, it didn't matter if he chose to take it off again, so long as he kept true to who he was in his heart. 

What if he chose to remain a Mandalorian whether any covert in the galaxy ever accepted him again or not?

The Mandalorian breathed into the darkness, something fundamental shifting in his heart. Luke had already seen his face. No one else could get in. It almost felt safe.

Not feeling particularly brave, Din tucked his helmet under his arm and stepped out into the corridor, his face bare. 

Din Djarin was mistaken. He was, in fact, very brave.

Luke was waiting at the game table when Din walked back into the room, already wide-eyed at what he'd felt from Din in the Force. Without a word, Din sat beside him, setting his helmet on the table with a 'clink' that felt very weighty. He looked slightly green, but there was no hesitation.

 _Brave_ , Luke thought.

Luke had been planning to set up something that could become a real school for Jedi in the future, a safe place to take Grogu. Somewhere either well protected by the New Republic, or remote enough they wouldn't be bothered. People were looking for Grogu; Luke had to plan ahead. He'd been thinking of Yavin IV. Luke had lived there, so there wouldn't be any surprises, and the Alliance had returned to put a base up after the Empire had fallen, so it was protected. He'd thought it was almost perfect.

Then Luke watched Din set his helmet on the table, looking vulnerable and courageous and painted with the kind of self-sacrificial love that Yoda had once told Luke was at the heart of any Jedi worth his lightsaber. Luke watched him do it, and made his decision right then and there.

The Force was telling Luke that under no circumstances should he take Din into anything that could be considered strongly New Republic-controlled space. So Luke was not going to go to Yavin IV. 

"Where I was going with Grogu, and what we'll be doing when we get there...well, it wouldn't be a good place for you," Luke said carefully.

Din blinked at Luke as though he'd grown another head. He was unaware how expressive he was. He'd simply never needed to learn how to keep his face from showing everything he felt.

"I know," he said. "That's why I gave him to you. You're his kind."

"You're his kind too," Luke smiled faintly, "from a certain point of view."

The Force, had it been sentient in a particular way that involved the form of a long-dead Jedi friend, would have thought that was a stupid joke and that Luke should really take things more seriously.

Din was still confused, and looked like it. Luke sighed and faced him more fully, turning on the bench.

"If we take Grogu where I was planning to go, something is going to happen to you." Luke looked away. "I don't know what." Luke spoke quietly, almost to himself. "So we'll have to go somewhere else."

He narrowed his eyes, rifling through possibilities in his mind. Something caught, a little nudge from the Force making him sit up straight. "Endor," he said thoughtfully. 

The New Republic had kept both the location of the battle that destroyed the second Death Star and the exact circumstances of the Emperor's death a secret. This was a choice both Luke and Leia thought was stupid for very different reasons. The result of that choice, however, was that the New Republic didn't keep a presence there, and no-one thought there was anything else interesting enough about the little forest moon to make it worth the trip to the outer rim for a visit. 

Din had no idea what Endor was and didn't care. He was focused on another word Luke had said.

"What do you mean, we?" Din was feeling oddly lightheaded. It was a lot of effort, tramping down hope. 

Luke could feel Din's heart aching very clearly, and reached out to put a hand on his arm.

"I'm asking if you'll come to Endor with us." Luke felt something ripple uneasily through the Force. He frowned. "I don't think it would be good for you to stay, but I think you should come along."

Din was sitting very still, but there were tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. "I can't do what you can, or what he can."

Luke smiled slightly. "I'm not going to train you," he said with some humor. "I just want you to know where we'll be. I don't imagine you would ever find us, otherwise. You should know where to go to see your son, and what the place he'll be living is like."

Hope wrenched itself out of Din Djarin's best efforts to control it and bloomed fully formed in his chest. It was an emotion he didn't indulge in often, and for a moment it overwhelmed him completely. 

Due both to his temperament and how he was raised, Din had a huge, tender spot in his heart reserved for family. Once someone was placed there, they couldn't be removed; Their stamp was on his soul forever. So he didn't exactly have thoughts in his head at that moment, just a huge feeling of relief. He hadn't lost his family after all.

"Yes," Din said with half a laugh, blinking a tear down his cheek. "Yes, perfect."

Luke sensed something very familiar coming from the Mandalorian. He'd felt it from his father, in the last few moments of his life. Din loved his son, and thought he'd lost him, but he hadn't. He was so damned grateful for that, for a second Luke could almost hear labored breathing and see a weak smile on a tired, scarred face.

Din turned his arm under Luke's hand and gripped Luke's forearm. Not a handshake; Something fiercer.

It wasn't a particularly common way to express respect regarding an agreement, except in a few military units and some of the backwater planets hovering in the outer rim. Luke, having lived most of his life on Tatooine, recognized it instantly. He gripped Din's forearm more tightly in reply. Agreement made, respect received and returned.

In a certain sense, it was fortunate that Luke responded quickly and knowingly. In another sense, it was a moderate disaster.

"Thank you." Din, rather overcome with relief and reassured by a familiar response, went in for a strictly Mandalorian-style expression of gratitude and affection. 

He wrapped a hand around the back of Luke's neck and leaned toward him, only to realize half a second later that neither of them were wearing helmets and so it was rather unlikely they would be able to touch them together.

He froze awkwardly, realizing he was much too close to Luke's face to be considered polite. Luke had very blue eyes, and Din was abruptly distracted by a tangled mix of thoughts he was becoming embarrassingly familiar with.

_Wow, he's attractive._

Luke's eyes had gone wide, and he'd started to smile. He was about to make a mistaken and unfortunate assumption.

From his perspective, it looked and felt very much like Din Djarin had been swept up in the emotion of the moment and had been about to kiss him senseless, but froze up before he could go through with it. Luke could feel Din was attracted to him, and with the help of Din's expressive eyes, it seemed obvious to Luke that Din couldn't think of a reason to explain the almost-kiss and was starting to panic.

Luke was not, in general, the type of person who thought much about that kind of affection. He wasn't opposed; His personal experience had proved Yoda's insistence on Jedi detachment to be a rather large lie. However, for a long time his life had been too complicated and dangerous for him to spend time and energy on anything but protecting his friends and trying not to die. 

With a split-second of consideration, Luke decided that seeing someone he liked feeling awkward and flustered over him in that way was kind of nice. Din was easy to like even by people who couldn't sense his feelings. Luke, who could feel Din had a heart that loved like a house on fire, was a legitimate pushover.

Luke leaned forward and kissed him on the mouth. 

Din Djarin, who hadn't actually been planning to kiss anyone, was almost flattened in shock. He hissed in a sharp breath as Luke leaned close; He had only a moment to think ' _he couldn't be-'_.

Then Luke's lips were pressing against his mouth. Bare skin to bare skin. Luke was breathing warm air over his uncovered face and Din shut his eyes, grabbing at the bench as though the light touch of Luke's mouth had tried to shove him into the wall. He felt as though his heart had dropped into his boots.

Luke had seen a lot of things in his life, and met many kinds of people. Unfortunately, he'd never encountered people who put so much cultural significance on covering themselves that they were hardly ever touched by anyone. 

Din was affected more by a light press of lips than anyone who lived in a culture of casual physical contact could ever understand. Feeling Grogu's hand brush against his face had been enough to make Din need to brace himself. The firm press of Luke's mouth against his felt like someone had slapped him hard enough to knock his brain out of his head. 

He was immediately and shockingly erect. That fact was meaningless to him. It felt so far away and unimportant he barely noticed it. His emotions had eaten his mind whole; A tangled, frightening mass of shock and longing and unbearable sensitivity took up every square centimeter of his brain. He couldn't think of anything else. He couldn't breathe. He felt as though someone had shoved ice into his chest; His lungs were too frozen to expand. 

His reaction happened so violently fast, Luke barely had the chance to sense anything from him. There was only a bafflingly intense flash of raw, flinching vulnerability. Din made a low, helpless sound into his mouth that almost sounded encouraging. 

It was not meant to be encouraging; It was the sound of Din hitting the limit of what he could cope with.

Luke cautiously parted his lips a little, leaning in. 

Din fainted dead away.


	2. Chapter 2

Din fell back with the frightening limpness of real unconsciousness. Luke realized what was happening with a splintering of shock and lunged for him, scrambling off the bench. 

Luke caught him under his shoulders, supporting Din's whole weight as he tried to slide onto the floor. Din's head fell back, his arms dangling limply.

The Mandalorian had about five inches of height on Luke and was at least 25 pounds heavier even without the armor, but Luke gave himself a flash of support through the Force, lifting Din Djarin in his arms like he weighed nothing at all. It was a fairly impressive and rather improbable-looking sight.

Down the hall, Grogu started awake with a little whimpering sound of distress. 

Wincing, Luke found a clean-ish patch of deck and gently laid the Mandalorian down. He yanked his cape off and wadded it up underneath Din's head. 

Luke had no idea what had happened, but he'd been in battle nearly constantly from the moment he'd first left Tatooine, so it was reasonable that his first thought was an ignored wound from the firefight. Luke spent an anxious few moments running his hands over the Mandalorian's armor, looking for wounds in the gaps between the plates. He tilted Din's head carefully, running his fingers through his hair, but found no blood.

Luke sat on his heels, baffled. It was difficult to feel much in the Force from an unconscious person. All he got from Din was a faint, lingering sense of shock. Otherwise, as far as Luke could tell, Din was fine.

Luke's confusion was understandable; He had no frame of reference for what had happened.

He was distracted from his frustration by a concerned bit of prodding by Grogu. Luke wasn't sure how much Grogu could feel, but he started shoving with increasing force at Luke's thoughts, a silent demand for attention. 

Luke was not a father, but he was sensible enough to know it wasn't wise to ignore a small distressed child. He also suspected having Grogu close by would probably be comforting to the Mandalorian currently lying on the deck.

Luke may not have understood the finer points of living a touch-starved life, but he did grasp the strength of Din and Grogu's relationship. 

Grogu was not pleased when Luke brought him out and he saw the situation. He slapped at Luke's hands immediately, wanting to be set down. Luke obliged him, and he went to his guardian as quickly as his legs would take him. Grogu stretched out toward Din in the Force, concern painting the surrounding air. He found what Luke had found; Physically, Din was fine. 

Grogu looked up at Luke, projecting a silent sense of 'what do we do now?'

Luke was 25 years younger than Grogu, but he had the benefits that came with being a Force-trained adult of his species. He could feel Din react a little to Grogu's prodding, though Grogu didn't. The Mandalorian wasn't Force sensitive, but people didn't need to be in order to be affected by it. The two of them had a strong connection.

Luke knelt by Din Djarin's head and gave Grogu a reassuring look.

"One more time," he said.

Grogu tilted his head at Luke.

"It's all right, try again," Luke encouraged gently. He would appreciate everything Yoda had taught him until the day he died, but if he had any kind of plan for teaching students, he would have said he wanted to focus a bit more on positive support, and a bit less on getting smacked on the back of the head by a wooden gimmer stick.

If the Force had been sentient at that moment in the form of a very small, very dead Jedi master, it would have found that hilarious.

Doubtfully, Grogu reached out again. This time the Mandalorian's mind brightened, lifting toward consciousness.

Din opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling.

"Good job."

Luke was speaking to Grogu, but Din had had a rough day and wasn't quite processing correctly. He wondered vaguely what he'd done that was worth praising.

There was a soft, questioning sound from close by. The Mandalorian recognized the Kid's voice, and looked to his right. Grogu's ears were down, and from experience Din knew that wasn't good. 

Luke spoke gently to Din, but he was staring, confused, at Grogu's face, wondering why he was upset.

"Hey," Luke repeated himself, earnestly concerned, "are you all right?" He rested his hand against Din Djaren's cheek. He intended it to be a brief, light touch; Something to catch the Mandalorian's obviously scattered attention.

It worked, but not in the way Luke expected.

Din shut his eyes, catching his breath. The skin-to-skin feeling wasn't as overwhelming to him as the kiss had been, but it was shockingly intimate. He felt like Luke had put the point of his finger against Din's soul, pinning it against the inside of his rib cage. It felt raw, but also sort of thrilling.

He turned his face into Luke's palm with a little shiver.

Luke felt the tremor run through the Mandalorian, and brushed Din's rumpled hair back off his face with a frown. He stretched out into the Force, hunting for clues to Din Djarin's distress.

Luke had been focused more on his own feelings, earlier, and had missed several key bits of information. Now, In his concern, all his attention turned on the Mandalorian currently laid out on the deck. 

All of a sudden, Din's feelings about touch were very, very clear to him.

Luke's eyes went wide, and he pulled his hand back, startled. "I am so sorry," he sputtered.

Din frowned at him. He felt vaguely as though they'd just had sex. From a standpoint of personal intimacy, the sentiment was fairly accurate. 

Din also felt like Luke was apologising for it like it was sex he regretted, which wasn't a nice feeling for anyone. He opened his mouth with a question about that in his mind, and then left it open.

He had finally realized why the room didn't look right.

"Why am I on the floor?" he asked, his heart sinking. He pushed himself up to a sitting position, his eyes darting around. He had a horrible feeling he knew the answer to his question. Like most people who see the looming shape of humiliation on the horizon, he had the desperate hope he would be told he was incorrect.

"You passed out," Luke said, giving him an apologetic look. "I think that was my fault."

Din briefly shut his eyes. _Great_ , he thought sarcastically. _Fantastic. Fuck._

"Right," he said instead, sounding defeated. "Of course I did." He leaned over and scooped Grogu into his arms, thinking he would haul himself up and retreat to Solo's room with his tail between his legs. 

It was an unfair pair of assumptions for him to make; Both that he had something to be embarrassed about and that Luke would agree with him. In fact, considering Din's upbringing, he'd handled himself about as well as anyone could expect.

Luke extended a hand to help him up. The Mandalorian looked at it, then up to the Skywalker currently offering it. Luke had an encouraging expression on his face that lacked the judgement Din was expecting.

There was a certain softness at the core of Luke Skywalker. It was a quality that often surprised the people who noticed it. The galaxy was a rough, hard edged, cynical place, and Luke wasn't particularly possessed of any of those qualities.

Din had experienced very little softness in his life. It was one of the things that had made his growing attachment to Grogu such a revelation. 

Feeling warmed, he grabbed Luke's hand.

With what was a surprising amount of strength from the Mandalorian's perspective, Luke pulled him smoothly to his feet. Luke had not noticed that the way he used the Force to give him leverage and make things lighter gave him the appearance of a freakish amount of strength. A more traditionally-trained Jedi would have made something of a production of levitating him.

Neither of them knew much about traditionally trained Jedi, so Din was impressed while Luke was utterly oblivious.

Luke tugged him over to the bench. "Sit down, I'll be right back."

"Uh-" the Mandalorian started, but Luke ignored him, disappearing through a doorway.

Grogu, who felt that he had been demonstrating an extraordinary amount of patience, gave Din a poke to get his attention.

Din looked down at him immediately "Hey, you okay?"

Grogu thought that question was rather rich, considering how Din had just been on the floor, and started giving him a scolding. He was slightly off base in his assumption of what had happened, and so was rather put out about the situation. He pointed at Din, which was something Grogu had noticed the Mandalorian did when he was displeased with Grogu.

He didn't exactly have a way to express. 'You jerk, you scared me, who goes to sleep on a floor?' but he managed, at least, to convey that Din had displeased him quite a bit.

"Hey, hey, c'mon," Din soothed. 

"You scared him," Luke said helpfully, rounding the corner. He was carrying a glass, and set it in front of the Mandalorian as if it had some significance.

It was a glass of water, so it did.

In addition to being likable, Din had a knack for recognizing quirks of culture. It had saved him an incredible amount of hassle over the years.

Din looked down at the contents of the glass, then over at the sober, expectant expression on Luke's face.

 _Desert planet_ , he thought.

He wondered which one Luke was from; There were dozens. He was obviously Outer Rim.

Din Djarin gave Luke a nod and drank most of the water off in several big gulps.

Luke, who recalled the handshake they'd shared, had been hoping Din knew enough to get the significance of the gesture. He smiled, pleased.

Din tried to give Grogu a little, but Grogu was still rather irritated, and turned his head to avoid it. He was dismissive enough of what he considered a half-assed apology that he turned and reached for Luke. If Din had thought about it for a minute, he would have realized he would have gotten a lot farther by offering him food.

Slightly hurt, Din handed Grogu over. Even if his feelings hadn't been clear in the Force, Luke could read them very clearly in his eyes.

Luke looked down at Grogu and 'tssked'. "There's no need to get angry, little one. I surprised him."

Din watched Grogu snuggle against Luke with a little thoughtful noise. A little trickle of unease poured down his spine.

"There was a woman," Din began pensively. "She had powers. Like the two of you."

Luke tilted his head, interested.

"She wouldn't train him." Din frowned. "She said he was afraid. Angry." Din met Luke's eyes. "She talked about it like it was dangerous."

Luke gave him a thoughtful expression. "It can be." Carefully, he shifted Grogu in his arms, and set him on the game table.

Luke Skywalker was about to have a very important conversation. It was not the most important conversation of his life, but it was related to the most important conversation of his life. There were many unique and extraordinary things about Luke Skywalker, and most of them had very little to do with his powers, and everything to do with what he thought about those powers.

Grogu was watching Luke with as much attention as he was capable of. The Force was humming in his ears.

"Letting fear, or anger, or hate in your heart is a choice," he said to the Mandalorian. "It's a choice you make, but it's also a choice you can stop making. Everyone is afraid sometimes," he smiled a little. "Everyone gets angry. What you choose to do with those feelings is what's important."

Luke tapped Grogu on the chest. "Holding too much fear doesn't make scary things go away, it just hurts you." He glanced at Din while still obviously talking to Grogu. "And we don't want you to hurt yourself."

Luke's eyes were steady on the Mandalorian, and Din blinked.

"No," he said, picking up the cue. "We don't."

Luke flashed him a smile. 

Grogu grasped onto Luke's finger with a little burbling sound, and Luke stroked the back of his hand with his thumb.

Luke continued, speaking again to the Mandalorian. "A Jedi can choose wrong, just like anyone. Grogu could decide to follow fear where it leads him; To anger, even to hate. When a Jedi gives in to those feelings we can wreak havoc on the universe, and on the Force."

Din Djarin had seen the things Grogu could do, and what Luke could do, fully trained. He could imagine the difficulties of trying to stop someone who had that kind of power and a bad attitude.

Din was rather underestimating the severity of the situation. He was imagining someone like Migs Mayfeld with the ability to choke people from across a room. He, like most people, was not aware that the empire had been a lot closer to a death-cult theocracy than anyone had let on.

Luke hesitated, frowning. "I know other Jedi used to give up on someone when that happened. They thought if you chose wrong then you were lost forever. So maybe that's what the woman was afraid of."

"You're not." It wasn't a question. Din couldn't imagine Grogu turning into a frightened little prick like Mayfeld, but even Mayfeld had ended up being all right in the end, so he wondered if maybe the other Jedi had been overcautious.

She had not been overcautious, and if Luke had realized the severity of the Mandalorian's misconceptions about the situation, he would have definitely explained himself better.

Luke, however, was distracted, thinking of someone else long dead. _It's too late for me, my son._ The words were sad and tender in Luke's thoughts.

He smiled at Grogu with the sort of kindness that could break hearts.

The Mandalorian had a heart, and was well on his way.

"No," Luke said quietly, and brushed his hand lightly over Grogu's ear. "They were wrong. It's never too late. You can always choose again. You can always be forgiven."

Grogu wasn't picking up a lot of what Luke was saying, but he was gathering some general meaning. However, the Force was layering the words around him, fitting the pieces together like a fine suit of beskar. Grogu would find them again, much later, in a dream. 

He made a soft, gentle sound at Luke.

 _If you want forgiveness, even bad things can be forgiven_. It was as much as Grogu could understand. The sentiment was close enough, for now.

Luke looked up at Din Djarin.

"So I can train your son," he said with a great deal of gravity. "If he's afraid, if he's angry, we'll work through it together."

The Mandalorian gave Luke an even look, something odd rippling through his heart at Luke's tone. "This is a big deal, isn't it."

Luke flashed him an amused expression. "You have no idea."

Grogu, who had taken his new lesson to heart, reached for the Mandalorian. _I forgive you being bad._ It was clear in the Force, and not particularly hard to parse out without it.

The Mandalorian scooped him up, amused. "So I'm forgiven, hmm?"

Grogu magnanimously agreed, making a happy sound. He snuggled against Din's chest in the exact way he did when he was preparing to fall asleep on him, because he was.

Din looked up at Luke. "I should..." he indicated his head very slightly toward the bedroom.

Luke appeared to be looking at the wall. He was actually looking vaguely toward the cockpit, because Han was no longer in it. From his sense of irritation, Luke estimated he was close and getting closer.

"That's a good idea," Luke said, handing over the Mandalorian's helmet. "I think Han has run out of patience." He looked pointedly toward the front of the ship.

Din stood up, holding Grogu a little tighter. "Right," he said flatly, having several private, derogatory, and rather unfair thoughts about the pilot in question.

Luke winced a little. 

Din stopped before exiting down the corridor. He turned his head thoughtfully toward Luke. "You should come," he said. "Help get him settled."

Luke froze, surprised by the offer. He glanced toward the front of the ship toward the door he expected Han was trying to force.

"I should..." he said regretfully.

"Keep the lunatic off my neck," Din filled in. "Yeah."

Luke frowned, meaning to tell him that he had Han all wrong. This was a fair reaction, because he did. But Din had turned away, and something about his tone of voice mixed with the way he moved almost made Luke feel like he was a little stung by Luke's refusal.

Then Luke heard a little mechanical grinding sound, which meant Han really had forced the lock. Luke moved quickly to intercept him, letting himself be distracted.

Han met him with his hands up in a peacekeeping gesture. "Now, Luke, don't get on me about the Mando's privacy. The kitchen's back here." He put a hand on his chest, looking innocently wounded for all he was worth. "What, do you want me to starve to death?"

Luke smothered a smile and stepped aside to let him pass. "Wouldn't dream of it."

Han immediately went to brush past him. He meant to have a word with the Mandalorian. On the way to the kitchen.

"But," Luke added, falling into step beside him, "since you're _concerned_ ," he placed the emphasis carefully, drawing out the word. "I ought to tell you not to worry about the Mandalorian's privacy. He's in your room with Grogu."

Han stopped dead. "My..." he leaned forward, his tone going sharp. "You let that tin can in my room?" He pointed forcefully in the direction of said room.

Han was remembering, rather frantically, that he'd kept something from the last time Leia had been onboard that he really REALLY didn't want anyone stealing. He opened his mouth to say as much but realized just in time what Luke would probably assume.

Luke would have been wrong; Han had found a sash Leia had dropped from her dress. He'd rolled it up and tucked it under his pillow. 

Han was a bit more awkwardly sentimental than even Luke realized.

"The baby needs a place to sleep, Han," Luke said dryly.

"Oh," Han said, his body language changing completely. He flashed Luke a smile, attempting to convey that he'd never minded for one second that Din was in there. It was a rather sorry attempt. "Well sure, kid's gotta sleep somewhere."

"Mmm," Luke agreed, vastly amused.

Han scratched at the back of his head, moderately embarrassed. "You want a hotcake? While I'm in there?" He was, in truth, actually hungry.

"Maybe later," Luke said agreeably. He looked toward Han's room. "I should uh, check on them." He was suddenly, and to his mind, inexplicably nervous.

It was actually very explicable. It largely involved the awkwardness anyone would feel if their first kiss with someone was interrupted by that person passing out on the floor.

"Suit yourself," Han said easily, giving Luke's arm a pat. He was not the most observant man in the galaxy, but his heart was in the right place.

Luke stopped in front of Han's room and knocked hesitantly on the door. There was a long moment of silence before it slid open.

The Mandalorian, who had taken a moment to replace his helmet but was hoping very hard that it wasn't Han Solo on the other side of the door, saw Luke standing there and let out a breath of relief. He stepped aside hastily, looking like he wanted to get Luke inside as fast as possible. This was more-or-less the truth.

Chewbacca would have understood. Putting his foundling to sleep was a quiet little ritual between the two members of Din Djarin's clan; A few moments resting gently on top of the bedrock of who they were to each other. If Luke was folded into that moment he was also being folded into that relationship. It became a ritual for three, not two. Even if, in the future, only two of them were present for it, it would still be a ritual for three. 

Din would still be there, even if he wasn't.

He didn't consciously think about the situation in that way, but it was true nonetheless. Din thought the sooner Luke was a part of things the better, and the reason for that feeling sort of slid off the edges of his thoughts.

Things got a little clearer when Luke sat on the edge of Han's bed and started telling Grogu about Endor. Din sat on the other side of the bed and set his helmet on his knee. He pulled the blanket up a little further over Grogu. His foundling made soft burbling noises, sleepy-eyed and pleased to be getting attention. The room was darkened except for the light panel next to the door; It felt small and safe in there.

Luke talked quietly about homes built into enormous trees, and the small, furry creatures who lived there. He talked about how brave and clever they were. He talked about the way they sang and danced after a victory, how even creatures very small could make a big difference in the galaxy. 

By the time Grogu dropped off, there was a kind of ache in Din Djarin's chest to see the place Luke was describing for himself. It had felt, to Din, as though Luke had been building a future there for Grogu with words, and Din wanted it to be real. He wanted to stand in that place with Grogu and Luke at his side.

"It sounds...very nice," Din said hesitantly. It was a vast understatement.

"It is," Luke said with a smile that remembered the good things first, and the sad things second.

Din caught on instantly, frowning.

Before he could ask, Luke had followed his thoughts to a realization. "I could visit my father," he said, and as soon as the words came out of his mouth he realized that was something he wanted desperately.

"Your father?" Din was not possessed of several key bits of information that would have clued him in on the serious and complicated nature of that particular subject.

"I brought his body there, after," Luke said quietly, thinking of a pyre in the dark. "I buried what was left. I could visit."

"Oh I...didn't realize. I'm sorry for your loss," Din Djarin said, as though Luke's father was just a navigator on a spice freighter, because as far as Din knew he had been.

"Are you," Luke said softly, a rising note of surprise in his voice. 

He was. Luke could tell. 

Din Djarin, in addition to the fact that he'd been raised in the most extreme and isolationist form of Mandalorian religion that existed, had a rather breathtaking single-mindedness. It served him well as a bounty hunter; He wasn't easily distracted from catching his target. It did not serve him particularly well in any way that involved keeping up with anything sensational in a news cycle, or the kind of hushed tale-telling people who'd seen and done amazing things in the Rebellion were likely to share.

He was extremely polite by nature, he just simply didn't care about things he didn't need to care about to get his job done.

If he had known Luke's last name was Skywalker, it would have at least rung a bell. The empire's bounty for the pilot who had destroyed the Death Star had not only been astronomical, it had stood unclaimed longer than any bounty in history. However, he didn't know anything else regarding the person owning that name. If anyone had ever mentioned the parentage of the pilot who'd destroyed the first Death Star to him, he hadn't bothered to remember it.

Right then, Luke was trying to remember if he'd ever actually told Din his full name.

After a moment of thought Luke had to admit to himself that he couldn't recall. If the option was there he almost didn't want to tell him, though. No one had ever expressed sympathy to Luke over his father's death. Ever.

He decided he wanted to keep that, for a little while at least.

In actuality, he'd never told Din Djarin any part of his name. Din had picked up that Han had called him Luke, but wasn't the type to pry into personal details. Luke knew all of Din Djarin's name, but only because Grogu had overheard it once and told him. 

"Well," Luke said quietly, in the manner of someone who was already headed for the door in their mind, "I should talk to Chewie, we'll need to stop somewhere and pick up a few things."

By 'a few things' Luke meant mostly 'a ship'. While Grogu was perfectly comfortable sitting in his lap in his x-wing, and even rather liked it that time Luke had let him steer, the Mandalorian wasn't going to fit. Luke was thinking that if they could get their hands on something like a Lancer Pursuit Craft it would be just about perfect, and that if anyone would know where to pick up a trim little ship in this part of the galaxy it would be Chewie.

The Mandalorian was once again suffering from his lack of knowledge regarding Luke's last name and history. He was thinking Luke meant something along the lines of rations, bacta, and perhaps some tools. He wasn't aware of just how many credits Luke had at his disposal.

As the oldest living descendant of Darth Vader, Luke had inherited a few things he hadn't expected. The visitor from the solicitor had been both memorable and unexpected. Theoretically he was the owner of a planet, two small moons, several dozen cybernetics patents, and a terrifying lava castle.

"Sure," Din said, obliviously making a short list of tools he wanted to make sure Luke had. He wasn't certain how practical sorcerers were.

Din stood and stepped around the bed toward Luke, the two of them hovering by the door, voices hushed to not wake Grogu.

"Han's making hotcakes," Luke offered, "Do you want me to have him set some aside for you?"

"That guy can cook?" Din sounded as skeptical as he was.

Luke's hesitation was telling. Amusement flickered across his face. "I didn't say they'd be good."

Din let out a breath of laughter, looking briefly down at the floor, then back up. "I'll pass."

Luke smiled at him. There was a sort of calm gentleness behind the expression that set off several very confusing feelings in Din Djarin. Luke had an air of someone who had seen and done difficult things; He didn't have the shiny look of optimism some young people carried with them out into space before the universe wore them down. He looked like he might have had that expression once, but instead of wearing down into cynicism, it had worn down to something else entirely.

The Mandalorian had no idea how perceptive he was.

Din had first acknowledged to himself that he longed for something kind and soft in his life when he'd gotten attached to the kid. He was starting to believe it had been a mistake to think he could indulge that desire just once and set it aside, because when Luke smiled at him, for just a second that longing ate him whole.

Luke's eyes went wide. He picked up on the feeling; It was strong enough it was impossible not to.

Din Djarin saw the look on his face and cleared his throat, looking at the wall. Luke took a step toward him. Luke had to tilt his head back a little to keep eye contact. For the first time, Din realized just how much shorter Luke was. Sort of shockingly short, now that he was looking.

"It's a serious thing, touching a Mandalorian on their bare skin, isn't it?" Luke asked, face serious.

Six months ago, Din Djarin might have killed him for even trying. "Yes." Six months ago felt like 60 years ago. 

Luke's shoulders dropped a little, and he let out a sharp breath. "I'm sorry." He looked down, scratching at the back of his head, embarrassed. "I just thought..." He gestured vaguely.

The gesture meant to encapsulate 'I thought you'd given me the go-ahead' and 'I'm thinking about shedding my name and taking up a new life in the Unknown Regions to get away from the embarrassment of this situation'.

Din, a master at body language, took a hasty step forward, holding up a hand. "It's fine," he said. It wasn't, really. Din's first instinct was that not only shouldn't he be kissing anyone on the mouth, it shouldn't have been possible for anyone to kiss him. _I shouldn't be showing my face right now_ , he thought, even though that particular bantha had been let out of the stable quite a while ago. 

That wasn't even the whole truth of it. The little space they were inhabiting, just him and Grogu and Luke, with all their faces bare; It felt safe. A private, secret little intimacy he wanted, more than anything, to be able to keep having. 

Din was having the unfortunately common and deeply unpleasant experience of coping with the realization that the box he'd been placed into as a child, the place he'd been taught was the only place he should ever want to be, had grown too small for him. 

On the whole, he was dealing with it better than most people.

His longing had risen up the back of his throat. His eyes dropped to Luke's mouth, and then back up.

Luke froze at the look on his face.

Din took a deep breath, and relaxed his shoulders, like he was settling himself to do something difficult. He was about to do something difficult, so that made sense.

He half reached up with one hand, toward Luke's face, but stopped. With a sigh, he dropped his hand, and dug a finger under the lip of his bracers. With an impatient wrench, he pulled his glove off.

Luke had gotten an idea of where things were headed, and had gone very still.

Din lifted his hand and placed his bare fingers against Luke's cheek. The warmth against his skin was pleasantly intimate, but not overwhelming. He looked at Luke and raised his eyebrows, a question on his face. 

Luke smiled at him, and he had several heart attacks in relief.

He was not expecting Luke to reciprocate; He was improvising. Luke was more careful to telegraph his intentions than the last time, and gently stroked his hand across the side of Din's face, back into his hair.

Din shut his eyes, his mind going utterly still. Luke's face was close enough that Din could feel the puff of Luke's breath on his face. Luke's thumb was lightly stroking the skin just behind his ear.

Impulsively, Din slid his hand around the back of Luke's neck and leaned down, just enough to rest his forehead against Luke's. It was a vulnerable echo of what he would have done to show affection if they had both been wearing helmets. It was what he'd first intended to do when Luke had kissed him.

Skin to skin; For the Mandalorian, it was staggeringly intimate. It was also on the edge of what he could handle and still remain upright to enjoy what he was doing. As it was, he felt a bit lightheaded.

Luke had learned his lesson, and was leaning hard on the Force to focus on what Din Djarin was feeling. It was therefore very clear to him that the warmth and meaning of their current position had filled Din's heart right up to the brim. Luke could have fairly warmed his hands in the light of Din's affection. 

It was also clear to Luke that it wouldn't be wise to push any further unless he wanted to be carrying Din over to the bed and tucking him in next to Grogu, who would probably be very cross about it.

After a long, pleasant moment, Luke drew away, with the universal reluctance of someone untangling themselves from someone they fancied. 

"I have to talk to Chewie," Luke said apologetically. He reached out and took Din's bare hand in his. If they had both been Mandalorians and Luke had made that gesture in public, the entire covert would have been planning their wedding by nightfall.

"I'll be back, I promise."

Din, who had been understandably flustered by the hand-holding, forced himself to pay attention. "Good," he said, with a faint smile playing around his mouth. There was something vaguely soft and eager about his expression. Anyone who had looked at themselves in a mirror after their first kiss would have recognized it.

Luke had not done that, but he could sense Din's feelings, and smiled at him like the suns rising. He was thinking that eventually, they'd work up to that kiss, and that he was going to enjoy getting there very much. 

He wasn't aware of it, but Din was thinking almost the exact same thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be a brief epilogue to this, because epilogues are fun and so are Ewoks


	3. Epilogue

There was firelight twinkling through the treetops.  
  
Small furry sentients chatted to each other, their voices carrying on the wind. Most of them were discussing the large person who'd arrived wearing a metal shell, and how damn weird some of those foreigners were. The rest of them were talking about how delighted they were one of their lost starfaring tribesman had returned from his wandering, and had brought a lot of excellent meat back with him.  
  
Bridges were strung like spider silk between the trees, swaying as the little creatures moved from one platform to another.  
  
Din Djarin had visited many different worlds, but he'd never seen anything like it.  
  
 _Ewoks_ , Luke had told him.  
  
If Din had been a different sort of person he might have dismissed the locals as primitives. Din was not that kind of person, as he was not stupid.  
  
It had been years since the battle that had destroyed the Death Star, but the Ewoks were proud of the mess they'd made of Imperial machines and weapons. The Ewoks had made an effort to keep some of the remnants of the Imperial walkers they'd destroyed clear of the encroaching forest. They were pleased to show both Luke and Din around to their various battle trophies.  
  
The wind-chime things they'd made out of half crushed stormtrooper helmets were particularly memorable. They'd even made a few of the walker carcasses into hunting blinds.  
  
Din had faced down a similar walker once with some sticks, a rifle, and a plucky attitude, and knew how difficult it was. A walker. Just the one. The Ewoks had taken down almost twenty, driven by actual Imperial troops.  
  
Small, easily underestimated, ferocious little sentients. Grogu, the Mandalorian had thought, would fit right in.  
  
Luke walked among them as though he found them utterly charming, because he did. He carried their children around almost as often as Grogu. In fact, the Mandalorian had noticed Grogu was starting to grumble about it. In the manner of most parents, he found the sudden onset of jealousy both amusing and adorable.  
  
Luke had managed to convey the mistaken impression to Din Djarin that he spoke Ewok fairly well. In actuality, he was relying heavily on what he could feel from them in the Force, and combining that with the extremely sketchy framework he'd gathered from the language packet he'd had Threepio send him.  
  
Luke was going through an interestingly rapid exercise in that particular use of the Force; He'd never learned a language by matching the thoughts and emotions of the natives to the words they spoke. Luke assumed it was a Jedi skill Yoda hadn't had time to teach him. In fact, it had been a long time since a Jedi with enough talent in reading thoughts had even tried to learn a language that way.  
  
The Jedi before Luke had been rather busy with other things.  
  
If the Force had been sentient in the form of a father who had spent almost the whole of his time as a Jedi fighting, he might feel sorrow and longing at what the Jedi had allowed to fade away. But then, that particular form spent rather a lot of time in sorrow and longing.  
  
If Luke had been aware of that fact he would have bent reality in half in order to comfort him, but since he didn't, Luke sat down on the edge of one of the platforms and laughed as one of the Ewok children tried to climb up his back.  
  
The sight made the Mandalorian feel like his heart had expanded to the point where his armor was getting tight.  
  
Grogu found the sight a little less charming, and patted at Din's arms with impatient sounds, wanting to be set down. Once he'd been reintroduced to the ground, he hurried over to Luke, somewhat outraged. As far as he was concerned Luke was His Jedi and any negotiations by other children for Luke's attention needed to go through management, which was him.  
  
Luke skillfully avoided any complaint by getting hold of the small, wiggling Ewok child and setting them neatly in front of Grogu.  
  
It was an efficient distraction; The Ewok child was curious-looking and friendly and too big to eat. Grogu's small fingers curled with interest into the little child's thick brown pelt. In return, the Ewok sniffed carefully at Grogu's ears.  
  
Both Luke and Din watched the children begin some cautious play with the sort of fond indulgence any parent would recognize. Both of the men in question, had their reactions been pointed out to them, would have been surprised. Grogu had a talent for drawing people inexperienced with children into parental feelings of affection.  
  
The Ewok child drew Grogu a little closer to the fire, making an attempt to get him to dance. It was not particularly successful, but both children found the attempt rather fun.  
  
Luke, sitting casually on the platform, drew a knee up and rested his arm on it. The warmth of the moment reflected on his face along with the firelight. To the Mandalorian, he seemed utterly at home.  
  
Din found it exceedingly distracting in the most confusing way. Luke dressed and carried himself almost like a well off core-worlder. Maybe not as ostentatious; One of the colonies, at least. Clothing crisp and new, expensive and tailored. He didn't wear them like someone who wanted to hide their rougher, poorer roots, he seemed as casual about it as someone who'd never had calluses on his hands. But he spoke and reacted like someone from the outer rim.  
  
Despite the fine leather of his boots he looked completely comfortable in what could be considered one of the farthest backwaters Din had ever been to; There not only weren't any spacefarers on the planet, the natives were so far from spaceflight Din suspected Mandalore would be green again by the time they reached the stars.  
  
Din could not square the image in his mind.  
  
If he had known more about Luke, he would have been far less confused. He would have undoubtedly found the image of a sand-covered Skywalker covered in grease and surrounded by vaporator parts to be something of a revelation.  
  
Grogu, unconcerned about the Mandalorian's confusion and feeling much more gracious towards the children who'd been trying to steal his Jedi, managed a fairly adorable series of hops that, if one were feeling charitable, approximated a dance. The Ewok children were exceedingly charitable, and cheered in glee.  
  
Luke smothered a smile with his hand.  
  
The Mandalorian saw the light of amusement on his face and suddenly wished they were far away from the fire and the dancing. He wished for somewhere private and safe, where he could pull his helmet off. He wished Luke would touch his face again.  
  
Luke wasn't aware his expressions could be somewhat devastating to the people around him. The Mandalorian might have been the first person Luke had ever _noticed_ had a crush on him, but that was a long way from the Mandalorian _being_ the first person who'd ever had a crush on him.  
  
Luke was the only pilot in the Rebellion who'd taken the Victory Mark of the Death Star on his X-Wing. Wedge Antilles had painted it on the side of Luke's ship as a surprise during the night, but flat refused to take the honor himself. Neither he nor anyone else told Luke that new recruits would all eventually sneak over to his ship and take holos with it. They also did not mention that quite a few of those recruits, regardless of gender, would moon after him whenever he walked down a hallway.  
  
Luke was, at the time, not skilled enough in the Force to notice; This was fortunate, as he would have been extremely embarrassed.  
  
He was not embarrassed he had Din Djarin's admiration. However, Din _was_ embarrassed when after that first gut-punch of longing, Luke looked over at him with startled understanding in his eyes.  
  
Luke stood up, Din's quiet, simple desire ringing like a bell in his ears through the Force. It was theoretically accurate to say Luke had only kissed him once. It was also accurate to say, as far as emotional intimacy went, Luke had kissed him every single night since he'd first showed up in the Falcon to rescue him. Once Din had even taken off his helmet and curled up on the bed with Luke, Grogu resting peacefully between them.  
  
Din put a hand up before Luke could speak. "It's fine," he said, not even pretending he didn't know Luke had overheard. "You don't..." Din looked at Grogu by the fire, the sounds of the Ewoks chatting to each other a pleasant undertone to the moment. Things weren't exactly private. "... It's fine."  
  
He wasn't lying. Din was the sort of practical adult who was used to not getting what he wanted. Luke, however, was the sort of impractical adult whose luck seemed to take that sort of person as a direct challenge. Luke did not have any particular control over his luck, being that it mostly came from the Force.  
  
If the Force had been sentient in the form of a mother who'd died far too young, it would have said a cynic was just a good person who'd been disappointed. And that it would be just fine with them if Luke smashed the cages around every one of their hearts to pieces until the day he died.  
  
Luke took a moment to stretch out with his feelings. The Force felt warm and reassuring.  
  
He reached out and touched Din's arm. "Come on," he inclined his head in a 'come with me' motion. His eyes turned toward Grogu. "He'll be all right for a minute."  
  
Din's reaction was reflexive and without thought. Doubt and concern flared up, and he took half a step toward Grogu. "I'm not sure-"  
  
"He's safe here. This is a good place," Luke said. It felt like the Force was singing it through his veins. "Can't you feel it?" It was something about the simplicity of the place, of how alive it was. Luke didn't know what he'd avoided by bringing Grogu there, but whatever it was, it made the little forest moon of Endor feel like pure relief. He'd made the right choice.  
  
Din Djarin was not a Jedi, but he didn't require the powers of a Jedi to get the measure of a situation, particularly when the person doing the measuring had been around as much as Din had.  
  
Din took a deep breath and let it out. There was a Jedi at his side, sworn to his clan. A Jedi who was apparently an honorary member of a tribe of three foot tall lunatic Imperial slaughtering berserkers who looked like cute little children's toys. Who were plainly ready to turn their cheerfully bloodthirsty attention to anyone who tried to threaten their guests.  
  
He wasn't the sort of person inclined to relax, but even if there hadn't been something about the place that just felt right, he would have had to admit it was safe.  
  
His eyes strayed to Grogu, now sitting contentedly by the fire. Two small Ewok children were sharing little bits of meat with him, while he cooed in satisfaction.  
  
"Yeah, it's a good place," he said, and meant it.  
  
Luke tugged him away, into the shadows, and Din let him. They walked around the bulk of a tree; Beyond it, a sturdier network of walkways connected several trees that had grown more tightly bunched together. Luke moved like he was familiar with the place, because he was. He'd stood near there with Leia, once; Though the emotions at the time had been very different.  
  
The spot was quiet, and dark, save for a few flickering torches on the next tree. Luke looked up at the Mandalorian expectantly.  
  
"If you'd like to," Luke said encouragingly. "There's only us, here."  
  
It was not strictly true, but it felt true. Given how dark it was, it certainly seemed to Din that no one would be able to make them out. Fifty meters in the air, half shielded by the curve of an astoundingly massive tree, the spot felt private.  
  
There were, in fact, two Ewoks on a platform above them who could see them. However, they were both four years old and just as things got interesting their mother came to collect them for dinner, so it didn't really matter.  
  
Slowly, Din reached up and lifted his helmet off. He shut his eyes as the air hit his face, taking a moment to breathe. He felt achingly exposed.  
  
Luke spent the time staring at his face. His features were softer than most people tended to expect when looking at his helmet and watching him fight. However, given that most people never got the chance to learn they were incorrect about their internal image of Din Djarin's face, it usually didn't come up.  
  
Migs Mayfeld had imagined him as an annoyingly strong-jawed sanctimonious type. It had shaken him quite a bit to see the same pained, worn down determination on the Mandalorian's face as he'd seen in the guys he'd served with. It had knocked a scrap of friendship out of Mayfeld he hadn't thought he still possessed.  
  
Luke found Din's features attention-grabbing in an entirely different way. To Luke, the Mandalorian's presence in the Force glowed with the same weary sort of kindness that marked his face. There was something about it Luke found touching; Most people who lived a life like Din Djarin's had to form their armor around their hearts, hiding anything gentle far from where it could be seen on their face.  
  
Din Djarin had real armor, so hadn't bothered.  
  
Din's eyes opened, wide and dark and filled with hope. His whole heart was right there on his face. He leaned toward Luke, tilting his head down as if he really was going in for a kiss. He wasn't, but it wouldn't have been wrong to say his emotions at that moment were similar to someone who was.  
  
Luke reached up and cupped the Mandalorian's jaw in his left hand. He had a bit of scruff that prickled at Luke's palm.  
  
Din sighed, leaning into Luke's touch. It brought his face very, very close to Luke's. They stared at each other. Din did not in any way consider himself the romantic type, but he thought the way the pleasant setting combined with the equally pleasant tension of the situation felt pretty fantastic.  
  
Luke had deliberately used his real hand, and the warmth of his palm sank into Din Djarin's skin. It felt, to the Mandalorian, as if the sensation was anchoring Din in place.  
  
There was a blatant possibility hanging between the ten centimeters separating their lips. The steadying warmth of Luke's hand settled Din's thoughts like a still pond, leaving him completely focused on the small distance between them.  
  
Din's voice was hushed and private. "Do you...want..." He looked down at Luke's lips, and then up, lifting his eyebrows in a silent, hesitant question.  
  
Luke, who would have dramatically insisted he also wasn't the romantic type but had once run off with a wizard to rescue a princess with a magic sword, was thinking this was possibly one of the best nights of his life.  
  
However, Luke was also someone who learned his lessons well. His master had often complained otherwise, but Yoda had been a bit off his game at the time due to concern about the fate of the galaxy and his oncoming death, so couldn't really be blamed for being slightly over-harsh.  
  
With that quality in mind, it wasn't surprising Luke took a moment to slide his free arm snugly around Din Djarin's waist. The railings were a bit flimsy and it was a long way down to the forest floor.  
  
Din Djarin was a bit too far gone in the moment to notice. He'd successfully closed the distance between them from ten centimeters to about five.  
  
Luke leaned forward and just barely brushed his lips across Din's mouth. It felt to Din as if Luke had reached into his chest and brushed his fingers across Din's beating heart. His knees nearly went out.  
  
Din didn't realize it, but he was, in fact, the romantic type.  
  
He melted against Luke's chest, lingering in that place of almost touching. Din lifted a hand and spread his fingers over Luke's cheek. It was an intensely private moment, a triumph that felt small and quiet and very personal to both of them.  
  
It was also the moment the future of the galaxy turned on a dime and heaved itself onto a completely different track with a resounding thud.  
  
Half a galaxy away, Asoka Tano frowned and looked at the sky. She put a finger in her ear and wiggled it vigorously, as though she was suddenly at a new elevation and was trying to pop her ear. This was essentially the correct way to handle the situation, except it would have been much more effective if done through the Force.  
  
Somewhere much closer, a terrifying lava castle got a little less terrifying for what seemed like no particular reason at all.  
  
Somewhere even closer than that, Grogu paused with a chunk of meat halfway out of his mouth and made a delighted sound, his ears lifting.  
  
Luke, being part of the cause and therefore at the center of the change, felt nothing but the press of smooth beskar against his chest and the warmth of Din Djarin's breath across his lips.  
  
If Luke had realized how significant and rather fairy-tale it was for a Jedi to kiss a Mandalorian on a quiet little world neither Jedi nor Mandalorians had ever claimed, he might have done something extremely romantic, like using the Force to help him lift Din into his arms enough to spin him around. It was lucky he didn't; Din Djarin might have been a secret romantic, but he didn't have the Skywalker delight for dramatics.  
  
Instead, Luke brushed his thumb over Din's lower lip, like he was marking his place. It made Din Djarin smile. The weariness his expression often carried was suddenly much further away, and the softness much closer.  
  
Luke had officially been slotted into a category of Din Djarin's heart that only Grogu (and possibly, from a certain point of view, The Way) had ever occupied. The Jedi had already been close, but that light brush of lips had taken him over the top.  
  
The Mandalorian would tear the galaxy apart to keep him safe, and, just as importantly, to keep them together. Din didn't realize it yet, but Luke was now at the level in Din's heart of ' _he means more to me than you will ever know_ ' snarled in the face of someone theoretically too tough to take on.  
  
The devotion of a Mandalorian was never something to take lightly. That fact would matter a great deal, in the future.  
  
However, at that moment the Mandalorian in question was thinking about much simpler things; About softness and kindness and being wrong about assuming he couldn't have the things he wanted. The galaxy was sharp and cold and brutally uncaring and Din had realized quite a while ago there was nothing he longed for more than to have things that weren't.  
  
There was nothing sharp and uncaring in Luke Skywalker. It was something of an irony that particular quality had served him more in changing the galaxy for the better than the power of the Force ever had.  
  
The future of the galaxy in question may have opened up and gotten brighter in a somewhat momentous way, but on the tiny forest moon of Endor the moment was rather small and simple to the two of them.  
  
Din Djarin was distracted enough by the way the gentle expression in Luke's eyes made him feel that he fell into the second kiss almost without realizing it. Their lips pressed together solidly that time, touching for nearly a full second.  
  
Din dropped his helmet.  
  
He broke the kiss sloppily, fumbling for it with instinctive panic. The thought that they were fifty meters up and it might roll off the platform and be lost forever wasn't even completely formed in his mind before he was lunging for it. Luke reacted half a second behind him and scrambled to help, accidentally knocking their heads together.  
  
Both of them fell over.  
  
It was not exactly a great moment in the glorious tradition of either the Jedi or the Mandalorians.  
  
The man who was technically the leader of the planet of Mandalore flinched, grabbing at the top of his head with one hand and slapping the other one over his escaping helmet. The last Jedi in the galaxy sat on his heels, clutching his forehead, and started to snicker.  
  
Din was half sprawled across the floor. He dragged himself up to his knees, cradling the helmet close. He was thinking how unsurprised he was any attempt he made at some kind of a love life would be an awkward disaster. He was also doing a poor job not laughing about it.  
  
"Could a fall from up here actually dent that thing?" Luke asked, rubbing at a spot slightly above his left eyebrow.  
  
Din turned the helmet over in his hands. He was unconsciously checking for damage that couldn't possibly be there. "Probably not. I'd rather not find out." He rubbed at a spot on his forehead near his hairline, and then tried to pretend that he hadn't.  
  
Luke noticed this, and tried not to find it too adorable. "Well, there are a lot of old stormtrooper helmets around here, I can probably persuade them to part with one if it comes down to it." Luke was failing spectacularly at looking like a thoughtful and serious Jedi. "You'd look good in white."  
  
The Mandalorian replaced his helmet with a rather wry expression. "Can't. I'm too good a shot."  
  
Luke laughed at that for quite a while, until Din finally dragged him back to his feet with talk of the trouble a stubborn Force-sensitive child who was technically too young for the concept of 'morals' could get into.  
  
As neither of them knew anything about their own future together except that they liked each other and would like to eventually get around to kissing again (probably without the headbutting), they made no great fuss about what had just happened between them.  
  
The Mandalorian led the Jedi back around the tree, into the light. Grogu was sitting happily by the fire with his new friends, waiting for them.  
  
He had perhaps the best idea of anyone in the galaxy what had just happened. His father and his Jedi had made each other happy in a way that made everything feel a bit happier. As he was a small child and was still half convinced that the things he cared about actually were the entirety of the universe, the situation seemed entirely reasonable to him.  
  
His father and his Jedi sat down close to the fire, and he went and sat between them, content that things were as they should be. He had a good feeling about his new home. As though they'd settled in a good spot to shelter from a storm.  
  
Grogu was entirely correct.  
  
Quietly, the sight hidden by his own cape and Grogu's shirt, Din tugged off his glove. Unnoticed by anyone, the Mandalorian slipped his fingers into The Jedi's palm.  
  
The fire crackled on into the night. Din and Luke held hands for a long time.


End file.
